Electrical cable, especially telephone cable is typically run outdoors, either suspended between utility poles high above ground level or burried beneath the ground. The cable itself is composed of many small diameter insulated telephone conductors encased in an outer insulative jacket. While the outer insulative jacket is a non-porous plastic enclosure, imperfections in the cable jacket, either at the time of manufacture or due to exposure to the elements, may permit water to enter the jacket and flow within the core of the cable. Also, in order to make repairs or for routine maintenance, the integrity of the jacket is often violated making water entry more prevalent.
Water tracking through the cable core may adversely affect electrical transmission through the telephone conductors. This problem is more acute at cable splice locations where two cables are joined to form a connection. These splice locations may be the low point in the cable. Thus, any water which may have entered the cable core will tend to accumulate at the cable splice location. Water at the point of connection between telephone conductors may cause shorting between the connected conductors.
There are available, a number of cable closures which adequately seal the cable splice area preventing water from entering at the splice location from outside the cable. However, these closures do not prevent water which is already in the cable core from tracking through to the splice area. Prior art techniques have addressed the problem of water tracking through the cable core. One technique which is quite adequate in preventing water from tracking through the splice location is to enclose the splice area with a permanent, curable, potting compound which provides a nearly solid plastic enclosure in and around the conductors of the cable. However, it is quite obvious that this technique is permanent and non-reenterable. There are situations where an installer, subsequent to making a cable splice, must again enter that splice area to effect repairs or maintenance. A potting compound such as described above would not permit such re-entry. Thus the entire potted location would have to be cut from the cable and a new section of cable spliced therein. The technique of potting or otherwise permanently enclosing the cable splice area is time-consuming, expensive, and difficult to install.
A second technique now practiced in the telephone industry is to use a non-curable encapsulating gel which is placed in and around the conductors and the spliced connectors at the splice area. Since the gel does not cure to a permanent set, the splice area may be re-entered and the gel wiped away to expose the spliced conductors. While still cumbersome and messy, this technique at least allows re-entry into the cable splice area. However, in long term applications it has been found that a method employing gel encapsulant does not totally prevent core water from tracking through the splice area. Thus in time, the adverse effects of water tracking through the cable core may appear even in gel-enclosed splices.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a technique for enclosing a cable splice area where water in the cable core cannot track into the splice area. Further, the enclosure should admit to re-entry to permit subsequent access to the spliced conductors.